The PEACE Process

Unlike diets that just focus on what food to eat and what to avoid, Aware Eating addresses you as a whole person. Instead of a time-limited sprint towards weight loss, I invite you to create your own sustainable, life long journey to health. Aware Eating is a holistic approach, designed to assist you in becoming lighter on all levels: mental, emotional, spiritual, energetic as well as physical.

After 25 years of experience in working with hundreds of clients, I have streamlined my research into a system to address compulsive eating and weight gain. Since Aware Eating helps you find ultimate peace with your relationship with food, the process can be summed up in one word – PEACE.

P Physical
When it comes to your body’s physical health, there are many factors that could be influencing your ability to burn fat – preventing you from having a light, healthy body that you desire.

We focus on what your specific concerns are so that you can:

Enjoy deep and restful sleep as a prerequisite for any change to happen

Pace and time your meals for optimal metabolism

Set up your environment so it supports your efforts

Savor healthy, delicious meals ready to cook

Make simple changes to reduce cravings, especially if you tend to eat a lot in the evening

Revitalize your energy through movement that is a privilege not a chore

Discover your own way of eating that is just the right balance between structure and flexibility

Appreciate all that your body does for you, no matter what size it is

In addition, I watch for signs of biochemical imbalances that could contribute to compulsive eating such as:

Food sensitivities
Hormonal imbalance including hypothyroid
Insulin resistance
Problems with digestion
Malnutrition (Even though you may be eating 4000 calories a day, your body may be nutritionally starved.)
Low serotonin

When I notice indications of these concerns, I refer to health care practitioners for a more thorough check up.

Your body wants to be at a happy weight that is just right for you. No chart or scale can tell you where your weight should be. You will know you’re there when you feel good in your own skin.

Turning around a downward spiral takes time. But with support of a coach, the process is simpler, smoother and more fun!

E Emotional
Your connection with food is the most intimate relationship you will have in your entire life. You started using food long ago when it may have been the only resource you could find to soothe uncomfortable feelings that were too overwhelming to deal with at the time. Due to past programming, you may associate eating food with receiving love. This is the beginning of emotional eating.

Do you reach for food when you feel frustrated, bored, powerless, depleted, anxious or overwhelmed? You may experience unease or restlessness but cannot pinpoint the feeling that drives it, you just suddenly find your hand in the cookie jar.

Do you:

Sneak sweets and hide so that no one sees you eating

Rush to cram in food until you feel so uncomfortably stuffed you become numb

Overeat when cravings become irresistible… especially at night

Start nibbling one bite of chocolate and cannot stop until the whole box is gone

When you find yourself impulsively reaching for food when you are not physically hungry, there is something else going on. An underlying need is driving this automatic reaction. The food serves to temporarily numb these uncomfortable feelings, burying them even deeper underground. But the relief is only temporary. Disgust of weight gain and body shame get heaped on top of the discomfort of unresolved feelings that always reappear, doubling the suffering.

Eating when you are not physically hungry is a language. This urge to eat is a signal that indicates the presence of unacknowledged emotions hidden just below the surface of consciousness. Instead of reacting, what would happen if you got curious about what the urge to eat is trying to tell you?

This is where my coaching comes in, to teach how to listen to rather than stuff down your feelings. When you pay attention rather than override your emotions, you get to know yourself in a whole new way. We will use a variety of tools, EFT, Hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) to connect directly to the underlying feelings. These point you to what you really want so you can fill these needs directly, rather than through food.

You will learn how to:

Ride the wave of discomfort to feel renewed, and reconnected on the other side

Nurture, soothe and comfort yourself when you need it the most

Give yourself the sweetness you are starving for by treating yourself with kindness and respect

Create boundaries to keep you safe so you do not need layers of fat to do that for you

Make time to put yourself first so that you give freely rather than running on empty

Welcome to the adventure of self discovery!

A Awareness

When you love something you pay attention to it. You take time to be with it. You say you love food but do you really? Fantasizing about how good this next cookie is going to taste, you can’t wait to get your hands on it. Yet when the cookie is right here, do you pause long enough to notice the rich feel in your mouth, the chewy texture, or the sweet after taste that lingers? Or is your mind so busy going towards that next bite that you miss this one?

By practicing pause points you learn how to become awake at the plate. When you are present as an active participant, the experience of eating fills you in more ways than one.

Eating with Awareness helps you to:

Notice signals of hunger and feed your body before you become ravenous

Learn to stop eating before you feel stuffed

Develop an inner gauge to feel satisfied with smaller amounts without having to weigh or measure for portion control

Bring outdated beliefs into awareness, like cleaning your plate

Feel relaxed and at ease around food

Then, rather than running on automatic, you respond to food by making conscious choices that are life enhancing. With structure and practice, Aware Eating becomes the new habit.

C Connection
There are four essential ways to connect: connect to body, connect to breath, connect to spirit and connect to community.

Connection to your body is primary.

You and your body are on this journey together from the moment you were born until the time you die, you are bonded for life. So what would it be like to have a friendly relationship with the one who is your most intimate lifetime partner? Instead of fighting, what if you could find a compassionate way to connect to your body so that together you form a collaborative partnership?

After all, your body is a living, breathing miracle. Right now your heart is beating, sending blood into the tiniest capillaries in your fingertips. All of this is happening without our conscious mind directing the show.
When you are out of touch with your body’s innate intelligence, you don’t attend to her messages until you experience pain. Become quiet enough to listen, and your body will send you reliable messages. So when you are exhausted, you choose to rest rather than reaching for potato chips. When you respond to these signals instead of ignoring them, you build mutual trust. This results in a natural desire to care for your body’s wellbeing.

Connection to your breath is a direct way to connect to your body. The breath is always right under your nose, always available, free, doesn’t have any calories and is guaranteed to give you increased inner calm.

Connection to community is what you are really hungry for. By eating, you literally bring the outside into your body where food magically transforms into flesh, blood and bone. Thus, at times you may find yourself reaching for food as a subconscious attempt to connect to the outside world… to bring what is outside inside. But food is a poor substitute for what you really want ….a warm and safe connection to other people.

Connection to spirit means to open direct communication with the life force that animates your body. This innate intelligence dwells within you, and can be called upon to help you make practical decisions. Aware Eating supports you in developing your own way to receive guidance. This can help you to reach beyond your limitations, gain a broader perspective and integrate life-enhancing choices into your daily life.

E Empowerment through Action

You may have all the knowledge in the world about nutrition but this does not help if you do not put what you know into action. Mental understanding is not enough. In order to get from where you are to where you want to go, you must take consistent action where it counts: in your daily life. At the end of each coaching session, we will create simple steps designed specifically for you.

You will encounter resistance to change.

As your coach, I support you in staying steady with your intentions. I stick with you through the inevitable distractions as your habitual behaviors resurface. I guide you through places where change is uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar.

Each successful action builds momentum for the next steps towards becoming lighter.

The root chakra is located at the base of the spine and is the color of a flaming red peony. It is about survival, grounding and connection to family. Learn to connect to your body and ground through your pelvis to discover your innate strength and power.

* “I was a chubby little girl and for many decades of my life I struggled with food and body image issues. By the time I found Robin at 46 years old, I was completely despondent over my inability to handle the “food rituals,” the unaware eating, the cruel tapes in my head playing 24/7, and most of all, the shame that came with all of this. No one in my life had a clue about the hidden shame I carried.

Since I began working with Robin, I have come to a much more peaceful place with food. And incredibly, I am happy to be in my body! I am making better and more conscious food choices and I exercise 4-5 times a week. I no longer engage in shameful eating or ritualistic food behavior. Robin’s methods for changing food and body image issues and her kind, compassionate and knowing nature have been a huge gift in my life. For me, this process is now a conscious journey. The best part is I know I’m truly not alone in this process of becoming free.”

Located at the center of the heart, the fourth chakra embodies love, compassion, and our capacity to forgive. Inside the rib cage, a radiant rose blooms. The dancer’s gesture expresses release of emotional pain. A beam of light streams down, flooding her with the healing power of unconditional love.

* “Robin understands how to nourish the whole person, and her treatment accounts for all variables, including nutrition, biochemistry, creativity, spirituality, healing old wounds, and ongoing maintenance. Her ability to be fully present with clients is backed by personal recovery, inner fearlessness, and sincere care.

Robin also taught me a handful of powerful tools that I still use to manage my daily life, emotions, and cravings. She helped me uncover some of the harsh and unloving judgments I had internalized from my early life. In identifying the origin and tone of these voices, I realized they were often at war with each other and my greater self, and that, by becoming conscious of them, I could choose what to listen to, and what not to. This also carried over to my external life; I do not have to receive the judgments or negativity that others may “offer.” What personal freedom!

Working with Robin has helped me to tune into my body and my real hunger, which certainly has positively impacted my sanity, body weight and self-image. But moreover, Robin has helped me develop a deeper connection to myself, my personal truth and my source of power, which has and will ultimately enable me to pay it forward as an effective helper in a world where many suffer as I did. Thank you, Robin!!!”